The Sustainable Urban Design Handbook

The Sustainable Urban Design Handbook gathers the best sustainability practices and latest research from the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, planning, development, ecology, and environmental engineering. It presents them in a graphically rich and accessible format that can help guide urban design decisions in cities of all sizes.

The book offers a comprehensive framework organising more than 50 elements of sustainable urban design under five main topics: Energy Use & Greenhouse Gas, Water, Ecology & Habitat, Energy Use & Production, and Equity & Health. These elements are discussed relative to four project scales: Region & City, District & Neighborhood, Block & Street, and Project & Parcel. Each element chapter includes a summary of importance and background, compares typical practices and recommended approaches, explains connections to other elements, and concludes with urban design guidelines that can directly inform projects and decisions.

Easy to use and reference, The Sustainable Urban Design Handbook provides both an in-depth introduction to topics across sustainable urban design and serves as an ongoing reference for anyone involved in the creation of sustainable urban environments. This resource will be valuable to design and planning professionals, community members, students, and elected officials in guiding decisions about our sustainable future.